Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Doin' that two-step...

The rewrite was going smooth until I came to a section where I had to decide which way to take the story. If I went left, a huge section had to be rewritten...and it felt right as it is. If I went right, I'd have to get rid of a subplot about Tone and his legal troubles...that didn't add anything to the story...so off it went. But it means jumping back to page 90 to rework two chapters. Grr...

BUT...I've cut nearly a thousand words out. That's not a lot when you're over 110,000 words spread across four parts and 550 pages. I've got an epic going here, fer dang sure.

I've been following the police action in Paris after the attack on Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine. Twelve people were killed, including a janitor. And a policeman lying wounded on the pavement was brutally executed. Islamic leaders have condemned the attack, but you wouldn't know it from the American media (and let's just not bother considering Fox to be part of that world, since their only business is to build fear and loathing, not dispense information).

The magazine was threatened numerous times for publishing cartoons showing the prophet, Mohammad, which is thought to be a no-no. The staff stood up to the threats, and I admire them for it. What's interesting is listening to how quickly this is being turned into an anti-Muslim screed. People doing that completely miss one aspect of this -- Charlie Hebdo is a liberal magazine run by people who cared about humanity; they would be horrified at being used to push anti-Muslim hate.

Stephane Charbonnier is among the dead.

I once had a character in a screenplay spout a profundity about how the world was slipping into chaos. I thought I was being clever and cool with that; I didn't think it was really more prophetic. But the last couple years have convinced me we are entering a new dark age, like after the collapse of the Roman Empire. That lasted 500 years.

I pity the generations after me.

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